18 September 2015

I noticed that I haven't gotten much of the chance to share my pre-wedding photo-shooting journey till I browsed the album and my blog. It has been 2 years since then! "If I don't share now, later when I grow chubbier or older, people won't believe the person in the pictures is me how?" thinking out loud to myself.

So, I carefully picked a collection of photos that I love the most. I thought I should stream down to Top 10... but it is so hard. Ended up, I picked 40+... Sorry lost count. Pardon me if it caused your page loading longer than it should.

Before sharing the photos, here are some background of when and where we took our pre-wedding photo in case if you are interested and some of these can be a reference. I know how much research a bride (hopefully groom) will need to do when it comes to photoshooting. I can share more of what I had prepared before all these turned. Well, lets keep for the next blogpost as it can be long.

We signed up with a small bridal shop somewhere in Thailand in year June, 2013. The package was RM1999 and overall cost which includes transport, tol and other misc is less than RM3K. All of them were taken outdoor and we focused mainly in a Thai palace which has turned into a museum and the beach. Both of us love beach so much! Lastly, all photos posted here are original without any editing.

First style (My Disney Wonderland Dream)

Style 2 (The Thai Prince and Princes)

I should have more of this collection but don't know why I only pick these 3. Anyway, all of them are my favorite!

Style 3 (The Drama-ness In Red)
From the photo, I feel like I was doing a magazine cover shooting. Lol.. It is good to feel that way when you are taking the picture for better effect (in my opinion) =P

Style 4 (The Korean-ness)
This was actually part of our free-gift because the staff made a mistake in taking the attire for us. We were not happy but the replacement was to take a free new style - why not?
There are more but I also just picked 3. This time, Calvin look so cool!

Style 5 (Temperament in a relationship)
Although I didn't really like the way my hair and make up was done, I like the chemistry between both of us when we took this 5th style. We were more natural - probably because we were mainly being ourselves. Haha...

My favorite!

Style 6 (The Usual Us)
This is the last and also a more loving one where Calv started to show his romantic side when sunset took place. Lol... T-shirt and shorts are the best attire so far as they are loose and allow winds to go in. Haha...

When it comes to pre-wedding photo-shooting, one of the important things that both should have in order to take a beautiful, and memorable photo is the ability to enjoy the experience together. Without the joy, there will be no chemistry between two couple. When there is no chemistry, the photos taken will not be as lively as it could be. Besides, you might not enjoy what you are seeing at the end of the session.

All the best to some of you who is about to take pre-wedding photoshotting! You both will look great!

12 September 2015

It is nearly 2 years since I am married to Calv.Wait.. let me count again.. yes. 2 years.

Up till now, I still feel it is a miracle to me on how this relationship begin and develop. Sometimes, when I wake up in the morning next to this man, I will look at him, smile and think to myself, "How lucky I am to be married to him". Well, I don't normally tell him this although I know that being verbally expressive means more in a marriage. I (and maybe him) prefer to write or give quiet hugs more. Or I like being cheeky to him as part of the expression? Haha... =P

Today, out of the blue, I asked him through Line messenger, "Among all the *choices out there, why do you choose me?"

And he replied, "Cause I mis-chose? Oh!!! Cause the day was dark and I cannot see properly?"

=__=

Then, later in the evening he posted this:

Haha.. I do appreciate his sense of humor and unique way of motivating me.I guess, he knows me very well that my grit to start something is high but to maintain the progress is questionable. Well, I don't want to blame my typology as an ENFP but part of it... is true. So, he is trying a harsher strategy to motivate me instead of being nice (I still hope you are nice to me k?)

That's how we usually communicate to each other. Annoying but loving at the same time. It somehow reminds me of my relationship with my dad. My dad like to tease and joke too in similar way. Now, it makes me wonder on what people say, 'the daughter will find a partner who is similar to their dad's characteristics'. Then, I wonder, will my child find someone in the future who is either like the dad or me?

Haha... it is funny to think that way.

Photo taken in Hawaii, Feb 2015.

I miss Calv and I hope the reunion time will come fast so that we can kacau each other again.

09 September 2015

This blog title might sound familiar to you who are still following my blogs
after months and years of neglection. In fact, I think ‘neglection’ is not a
right word. Perhaps, avoidance?

My heart for blogging is still pretty strong and each year in my new year
resolution, my hope is that I can start the passion of blogging again – just
like how I did it from year 2009-2011. And then, the hope gets
repeated, and repeated and repeated with (uhmm..) sadly no further
action. Sigh….

So today, I told myself, “Why not you sign in to your blogger account and
write something? You will start your busy work life again after today’s MC. Go
and do something meaningful, for a quick one rather than sleeping all day”.
Before anyone misunderstood the MC part, let me explain. I was feeling not
well on last weekend and the doctor prescribed me with some medicines and 3 days
MC which will end by today. I was advised (closed to warn) to stay home, rest
and not to travel for more than 10 minutes journey. I had been sleeping for 2
days in a row and I think, this is one of the longest sleep I have had this
year!

Hence, here I am.

I am also happy to say that I have found a little motivation to begin with
when I googled search for ‘restarting blogging for blogger’ (ya… I actually
googled for ideas to come back blog about this…) and I found a blog post that
speak to me! The title itself is already attracting me to read ‘How I’d Start (Restart) a Blog If I
Were To Begin Today’ by John Saddington.

The suggestions are straightforward and casually original too which closed to
my liking. One of the key messages that I receive is to ‘keep away all form
of distractions and start writing!’. He begins his point with 'Remove Technology
ASAP’ which instantly ring a bell. My life now is connected to smartphone that
most of my free-time I see myself replying emails, whatsapp messages (work and
personal purposes), scrolling down Facebook updates brainlessly, reading Elite
Daily whenever a topic interest me, play apps games (now: Criminal Investigation
and Angry Bird too), instagram-ing and nothing else.

And then, I told myself… “I am so busy and I don’t have time to
blog!”
Not even on the weekend because I want to rest, run errands, re-organize my
stuff, meet friends or travel back to the hometown.

So on and forth that I failed to make myself to blog….
Another point that is raised up by John which I do agree with is ‘to write
imperfectly’. It is pretty natural for me that I must do thing perfectly. So,
when it comes to blogging, I will put high pressure on myself:

Must use the right choice of words

Blog design must represent me

Photo(s) must be nice

Look for good social networking sites to share my blog update

The list go on….

Besides wanting to blog perfectly, I do have fear and concern if what I post
today will backfire me in the future. It started from my Counseling Ethic and
Profession class when we (the students) were reminded not to post too personal
stories on the internet or it will affect our professionalism. Then, when I
joined the education line as a teacher, I was worried if my students will
read my blog, misbehaved or attacked me in the class. Now that I join Teach For
Malaysia as a teacher coach, I am worried if my team members (teachers) will see
me unprofessionally? Then, what if I have children in future? Will my kids loss
their respect for what I post?

Well, not that I had posted any big, juicy embarrassing story of myself (em….
as far as I remember la..). Just, a concern. There are too many examples around
that I admit worried me which then, I feel tired of being a worrywarts.

I guess, this kills the joy of blogging as I spend more times of worrying or
correcting what I thought is imperfect more than writing per se.

Now that I realize, I have lost 4 years worth of memory (if I continue
blogging). Why don’t I blog? Sob….

Anyway, I know that this is a good call and I am grateful to be able to
write my thoughts out today. Oh, and thanks to Cheesie who posted her personal
experiences with blogging in her latest post.
It has motivated me too to start typing again

To really think of the bright side, this blog has become a valuable
platform where I have met many wonderful people, be friends in real life and
still in contact with each other. Not to forget that this is also a place where
Calv learn more about me and now…. we are married!

So many beautiful incidents had happened and why stop?

Photo taken at Marina Bay, Singapore on 30th Aug 2015

By the way, here is a latest photo of me in case you forget how I look. Lol...

23 January 2015

when I was observing one of my teammates teaching in the classroom, I
received a sad news. A boy, whom I met and talked to during in my motivational
speech in a new school last Friday was dead. He met with an accident and passed
away in the morning.

I was stunned when I read the news.
I couldn’t believe that, the Form 5
boy whom I met just few days ago has left. Although I just met him for an hour,
he and his gang have left a strong impression on me.

Photo credit: Nuruddin.

Surprisingly, I had been thinking this bunch of boys since the past 2 days. The 3 of them were the ‘talking group’ during my 1 hour sharing session, which lead me to facilitate them more during activity so that I could understand the reason why they talked. I found out that 1 boy was struggling to put thoughts into words, hence his friends helped him by translating from Tamil into Malay words that lead to constant laughter.

Photo credit: Angie & Kit
Yen

I managed to read this boy’s Life Map and found out that he wanted to get
married in 5 years time and secure a good job so that he can take care of his
wife in 10 years time. I still remembered, how supportive I am towards his
intention to take responsibility of his future and partner, and even prompt them
further on how he could secure a job of his choice and support his family. I
couldn’t remember the exact phrase but I have vivid picture of him saying that
he wants to further studies, secure a job and go travel in future. Then we
laughed together before I left for another group facilitation.

P/s: I used to think if a person set him/herself a marriage plan at a very
young age (24-25), he/she is not ambitious enough. However, being married, I
must say my perspective has changed.

Above: One of the students’ life map

After the news, I did not have a proper time to digest the information until
I was done with school visit and caught in a heavy jam. The night, rain and
quiet car had naturally created a space for me to reflect on
life.

”How fragile it can be.”
”The ability to raise in every
morning is an opportunity to learn life another day”
”Today might be your
last day of seeing this person”
”Every person you met is a ‘yuen
fern’”
”Life is short”
”Do things that you will not regret of”

P/p/s: am just blasting my thoughts in random sequence.

Then, it lead me to think of today’s team’s fun question lead by Angie on “If
you are famous, how will it looks like” and I excitedly shared my answer
(because, I occasionally thought of this too since years ago #buapaisheh). I
confidently shared that I want to write a book that inspire people. I want to
write based on my experiences. I want to write about personal development
related topic. I want to be famous because of the legacy I left before the end
of a journey.

Well, at the end of my sharing, I was laughing and told my group that
partially, they were jokes. However, at this point of time, thinking of the boy
whom I just shared, I know that I want my words to come true (at least half). I
want to continue touching lives and help people, including myself to gain self
awareness, grow and reach our ultimate potential. Suddenly, I feel that to be
able to do things we like and satisfied with personal achievement are seriously
a privilege.

The only thing that hinder me from achieving these are my inaction. I
dreamed, I planned but I did not take action.

I don’t know how I could stand the heat (didn’t switch on the fan) and stayed
awake till midnight, oh well.. I am glad that I am writing something.

Note: I am grateful for the opportunity given although it was a last minute
call (like 15 hours before). There were 112 students and it was successfully
conducted by me with the support from Angie. Listening from 2 girls who were
brave enough to accept my request by going to the front of the stage and read
their 5 and 10 years go to the crowds. 1 of the girl would like to pursue her
dream to be a fashion design in overseas and would want to come back to her
Orang Asli community to design clothes for them (also to her teacher, Kit Yen).
Another girl shared that she wants to be rich by owning luxurious cars (with
specific name slike Ferrari, Lamborghini & etc) and give good life to her
family. Hearing from them caused goose bumps all around my hands.

Colourful envelopes that contain students’ life map and
dreams.

I am a dream collector

By the way, here was the closure activity (known as exit ticket) where
students will have to write their hopes and possible action taken on their Life
Map. Next, they will insert their paper into the colourful envelope with name,
class and ambition written boldly on it. Then, they passed their
past-presence-future to me. The plan is that, they will collect them again at
the end of the year to reflect back what they have written and take necessarily
action to achieve their dreams.

Dream will always be a dream when you think and do nothing bout it. Writing
down the dream will be the first step in turn it into reality.

Side note: This blog post is actually written on 19th January 2015 but could only be published today due to some issue with Blogger. Anyway, here I am, trying my best to post this up before end of the week.

About Me

Simplicity is what I'm searching for while adventuring my life to explore and discover. Each discovery will teach me a meaningful lesson that will help me grow. I write to learn more about myself. Currently, I am full time teacher for another 1.5 years and a fellow of Teach For Malaysia.